System failure

The Anteaters confuse the Warriors with a softer serve

OUT OF SYNC and out of system.

It added up to 3-and-out for the Hawaii men's volleyball team last night.

The sixth-ranked Warriors never found a rhythm and never quite figured out No. 4 UC Irvine. The Anteaters weren't spectacular, but they were solid, handing Hawaii its second consecutive loss, 30-26, 30-23, 30-26.

UC IRVINE - 3 HAWAII - 0 NEXT UP vs. UC Irvine tomorrow

A crowd of 2,084 (3,258 tickets) also saw UCI win at the Stan Sheriff Center for a second straight time, dating back to the Anteaters' last visit in 2004. UCI (6-2, 3-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will go for three in a row when taking on Hawaii (3-3, 1-2) again tomorrow night at 7.

Given last week's competitive fire, even when falling to UCLA 3-2, this loss came with surprising swiftness. Faster than even the 1 hour, 41 minutes recorded in the box score.

"We couldn't pass, that was the bare bones of it, and everything snowballed after that," said senior Matt Carere, the only Hawaii hitter with much success (12 kills, .435). "We didn't bring it tonight and UCI did. UCI's a very good team and any time you don't bring your 'A' game, you'll get your butts handed to you.

"We couldn't figure out the pass and serve. They beat us and we have to give them credit. We'll watch some film (today) and get a little bit more motivated, bring our 'A' game."

Today's Warrior practice will be dedicated to the serve-and-pass basics. When the Anteaters threw a change-up from the service line -- going with jump-floats instead of heat -- Hawaii couldn't adjust.

"They exploited one of our weaknesses," said UH sophomore hitter Jake Schkud, seeing the most playing time so far this season. "I played for (UCI coach John) Speraw this summer (on the USA junior national team). He's a good coach. He changed the way their guys were serving and it took us out of our offense.

"I was excited to be out there, but I'd rather be on the bench and win than be out there and lose. In this league, anyone can win on any given night, but it wasn't supposed to be like that. It was supposed to be a battle. They caught us on an off night. Hopefully, on Friday we can find our rhythm and take them out of theirs."

Rarely did the Warriors find a way to take a lead. They fought back in Game 3 to tie it at 16 and again at 20 but never could grab any momentum.

Instead, the Anteaters pulled away from 23-22 with a 3-0 run comprised of two blocks and an ace for a 26-22 lead. The Warriors never got closer than three, with Matt Webber putting down his 15th kill to finish it off, improving UCI's record in Honolulu to 12-2.

Jayson Jablonsky led UCI with 16 kills. Freshman libero Brent Asuka, an Iolani product, had 13 digs, including nine in Game 1.

"It was disappointing. I could hardly believe my eyes," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We couldn't do the very rudiments of the game."

The quickness of the victory surprised even Speraw.

"Hawaii is a very, very good team," the UCI coach said. "We've come into a couple matches this year where we were pleasantly surprised by the outcome. ... To come into Hawaii, where the home-court advantage is so important, and to come away with a win is rare, and doing it 3-0 ... I don't expect it to occur again."

MPSF standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
Brigham Young	4	0	1.000	6	0
Pepperdine	3	0	1.000	3	0
Long Beach State	3	0	1.000	7	0
UC-Irvine	3	1	.750	6	2
USC	2	1	.667	3	3
Hawaii	1	2	.333	3	3
Pacific	1	3	.250	2	5
UC-Santa Barbara	1	3	.250	2	5
Stanford	1	3	.250	2	6
UCLA	0	1	.000	4	3
CS-Northridge	0	2	.000	4	3
UC-San Diego	0	3	.000	0	5

UC Irvine def. Hawaii 30-26, 30-23, 30-26

ANTEATERS (6-2, 3-1 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Thornton	3	0	3	3	-1.000	2	2	5
Spittle	3	6	0	15	.400	0	1	3
Jablonsky	3	16	4	30	.400	0	1	3
Webber	3	15	7	28	.286	0	2	6
Smith	3	8	1	13	.538	0	3	3
Harrell	3	8	0	13	.615	0	3	1
Asuka	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	13
Simpson	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	53	15	102	.373	2	12	34

WARRIORS (3-3, 1-2 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	7	1	13	.462	0	1	0
Delgado	3	9	5	20	.200	0	0	2
Hakala	3	5	3	15	.133	0	1	4
Carere	3	12	2	23	.435	0	2	3
Beckwith	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	4
Dante	2	3	0	6	.500	0	2	0
Kalima	2	1	0	6	.167	0	1	2
Carney	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	10
Schkud	2	6	5	15	.067	0	1	2
La Barre	2	3	0	5	.600	0	1	0
Totals	3	46	16	104	.288	0	9	27

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- UCI (5): Thornton 2, Webber, Smith, Simpson. Hawaii (1): Hakala. Assists -- UCI (48): Thornton 45, Harrell 2, Asuka. Hawaii (42): Beckwith 40, Carere, Reft.

T -- 1:41. Officials -- Dickson Chun, Wayne Lee. A -- 2,084.